Fruit-drier



H.' FETS-. FRUIT DRIER;

(No Model.)

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FRUIT-Delen.

1- SPECIFICATION forming part of Letterslfatent No. 291,320, elatedJanuary l, 1884. Application filed May 28, 1881. (No model.)

all 'Lu/"mm, it may concern: l Be it known that I, HiinRisoN Frrrs, aciti- A'zen of the United States, residing` at Rollin,

`declare the following` to be a full, clear, and

ir li such as will enable others skilled in the art to which itappertains to make and use the same, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, and

` to letters or figures of reference marked there- `is a front elevationof same.

air-tight as practicable.

on, which form a part of this specification.

My invention relates to certain improvements in fruit-evaporators, whichare hereinafter first described, and then designated in sions verticallythan horizontally. The walls form an inclosure which throughout is asnear Adoor, B, through the front wall at its base affords access to theinterior, in the center of which, upon the floor, the furnace C isplaced. A smoke flue, C', ex-

tends from the furnace up the center of the! kiln and projects throughthe roof, which latter is without vents or openings, or, as beforest-ated, is practically air-tight. Two crossbeams, D, extendfrom side toside of the kiln at an elevation above the furnace and serve to supportthe reels E, of which there are four in number. These reels rotate'on avertical i axis, the smoke-Hue passing up the center between them. Inpractice an apparatus ofthe magnitude of the one illustrated in thedrawings should have reels about sixteen feet high and six feet indiameter. From the central shait, which constitutes the axis of thereel, arms c project radially, there being six arms affixed at the samehorizontalplane, which are placed about six inches apart in the verticaldirection. The outer end of these arms are attached to and supported byrods f, which extend vertically from the top to the bottom of the reel.

The arms e serve as slides, on which the racks or fruit-trays g aresupported. It will be seen.

that the reels are six-sided, and the sides of the racks or trays fromtheir frontedge (which is about three feet long) converge toward theirrear. As the rear edge of` each of the` racks,

which is parallel with the front edge, is about` sixteen inches long, itwill be seen the rear rof of the reels, but 4is remote therefrom, `thusleaving a space, h., between the rear edge of vthe rack does not extendto the central shaft each rack and the shaft, whereby a vertical passageor channel is formed by the series of thirty racks, one above another,lwhich, channel extends up along the central shaft and per-` mits theheated air and vapors to circulate through the reel. One side of each ofthese reels is in close proximity tc` the walls of the kiln whenstanding in proper position, as

shown in Fig. 3, and doors I aie made in the walls at these points,through which the racks or trays containing the fruit are inserted in orwithdrawn from the reels. The bars or slats of the racks or trays arecovered with gauze-netting, which Vprevents the fruit from fallingthrough. Then one of the six sides of a reel has been filled through theopen door with racks or trays having the green fruit spread over them,the reel is partly rotated to i down through the kiln in a verticaldirection to a point below the lower end of the reels. Only the top andbottom end of the vaporiiues are open. These ilues are employed mostlywhen the kiln is full of green fruit, which is very wet, containing agreatdeal of moisture, so much that when heated it becomes convertedinto hot steam, which fills the lower part of the kiln below the reels.A considerable part of this vapor is consumed in maintaining combustionin the furnace, but the ex- IOC cess of vapor which collects in thelower story l vapor from the fruit is forced by the heat above below thereels finds outlet through the fines N. As the upper part of thevapor-fines becomes very hot, a draft up through them is at onceestablished by opening the dampers p.

An open water-vessel, P, is placed upon the stove or furnace, and issupplied by a pipe, q,

` which leads from the vessel through the wall 0f the kilnto theoutside, where a funnel, q. is attached. This device serves to supplythe vessel with water, while a cock, r, may be employed to open andclose the pipe. Another pipe, s, is attached to the water-vessel andleads therefrom through the wall to the outside, at which point it islowest. and where a cock, t, is attached. This pipe serves to draw offthe water.

Vhen first filling the reels with racks, it is necessary to commence atthe top, and the water-vessel is employed to produce steam, whichascends to the top of the kiln, and by its presence there prevents thefruit contained on the racks which are first placed in position fromscorching. After the upper part of all the reels have been filled withgreen fruit, the water is drawn off, no more being required while thefruit therein is undergoing` evaporation.

In the operation of my apparatus, the heat produced by the furnacerises, and is coniined within the kiln, because, as before explained,the kiln is practically an air-tight inclosure, the interior of thekiln, and the upper part in particular, being filled with heated air.The

to descend as rarefed steam, and as this serves to supply the requisitedraft or maintain combustion in the furnace, all necessity forairopenings below is obviated.

The herein-described arrangement of parts is convenient and effective asan evaporator 'for fruit, and is very economical in operation.

Having described my invention, I claim and desire to secure by LettersPatent of the United Stat-es 1. In a fruit-evaporator, the combinationof an inclosure whose walls and roof are practically air-tight,fruit-trays, a furnace Within the said air-tight inclosure, asmoke-flue, C', extending up through the inclosure andpro.- jecting fromthe roof, and one or more vertical vapor-fines, N, open only at the togand bottom, and having its lower open end below the fruit-trays and itsupper end through the inclosure at the top, as set forth.

2. A fr uitevaporator having rotatable fruittray reels, a furnace belowthe reels, a smokeflue, C', passing from the furnace to the roof betweenthe reels, anda vapor-flue, N, open only at the ends, and having itslower end below the reels and its upper end above the reels, as setforth.

HARRISON FITTS.

'Vitnesses:

HARVEY S. BOWEN, FRANK BOWEN.

